One woman didn’t let her boyfriend get in the way of finding her husband. In an interview with CNN, Maire Clifford recalled taking a six-hour train ride with her then-boyfriend, during which she met her future husband.
While traveling via train from London to Edinburgh in 2000, a then- 20-something Clifford found herself bored after her boyfriend nodded off beside her. She decided to make her way to the smoking area of the train, which she found empty, save on man with a backpack.
She asked the mystery man for a light for her cigarette and the rest, as they say, is history.
“I sat down, and we started talking,” she recalled to the outlet. “And I just remember being struck by how easy [it was]. There was a real sense of familiarity.”
Who Was the Mystery Man?
That man wound up being Andy Bain, a then-27-year-old who’d recently sworn off relationships.
“I’d kind of not had a great relationship prior to Maire, and not really any great relationships, I guess,” he told the outlet. “… I made this conscious decision that I wasn’t going to be seeking a relationship. I wasn’t going to basically talk to anyone or put myself out there in any way, shape or form. I just needed to get my head back together.”
That perspective changed, however, when Bain visited Tanzania and Zanzibar.
“I got up in the morning and there was a herd of zebras drinking from the campsite waterfall… I kind of just sat there, and I was like, ‘Well, whatever you’ve done in your life, or whatever has been done to you — good or bad — it’s led you to this amazing thing, which is the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen in your life,’” he said. “And then I was just like, ‘Well, I think it’s just time to get back out there, open yourself up again to the world and see what happens.’”
How One Train Ride Changed Everything
When his time in Africa came to an end, Bain flew back to Europe. When he arrived in London, he missed his train home to Edinburgh and wound up taking the same train as Clifford.
“So not only was it immediately after I’d kind of said, ‘I’m going to open myself up to the world.’ But I’d missed the train that I was supposed to be on,” he said. “And then the first person that I really met after that decision, through that kind of happy accident, was Maire.”
Due to Clifford’s relationship status, both she and Bain assumed their relationship would be solely platonic.
“It was a really easy chat. Just kind of our whole general vibe just clicked…I don’t remember thinking, ‘She’s really hot,’ you know, or anything like that. It was just, ‘She’s really cool,’” Bain said. “And it was really, really nice just to have just such an easy conversation with someone. There was no effort. It was just so, so simple.”
The pair exchanged email addresses.
What Happened After the Train
After the train ride, they began messaging back and forth for months. So the pen pal friendship turned to phone calls.
Clifford’s relationship ended, but she didn’t view Bain as a romantic option. Things progressed, however, when he sent her the book Where the Wild Things Are for her birthday. Bain didn’t know it then, but that was Clifford’s favorite childhood book, which she took as a sign.
Then, Bain found himself in London and the pair met up again in person, albeit platonically. Then Clifford traveled to Edinburgh with a group of friends.
“That first night, we sat on the sofa and we talked for eight hours. About halfway through that conversation, he says to me, ‘Do you believe in soulmates… Because I think that you’re mine,’” she recalled. “And then, on the third day, we’re sitting there talking, and he reaches over and he puts his hand on my knee, and he says, ‘I really love you.’”
When Clifford realized that Bain meant he was in love with her, she realized that she felt the same even though they hadn’t even kissed.
They dated long distance for a time, before Bain got transferred to London to be with Clifford. Six weeks later, Bain popped the question at a train station. They went on to tie the knot in 2003. Today, they have two teenaged daughters.
“It just feels weirdly fated,” Bain said. “There were so many things that could have stopped us meeting… Right person, right place, right time… I just feel like in this really weird way if the universe has got a plan for you, and there’s something there, it’s going to happen.”
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